Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Place de l'horlogeSo the Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009 was a disaster they say, but this isn't stopping local initiatives. Here's a newbie on the Avignon scene : Cyclopanier (cyclingbasket). Their motto : our produce, our seasons, our future. These people collect and deliver locally grown fruit and veggies by bike. You can choose between a small, medium or large weekly basket of organic and seasonal fruit and vegetables, or take your pick and make up your own order of fresh produce. Your online order will be delivered to you by bike : no noise or air pollution, fresh produce guaranteed. Does it sound like a good idea? Do you have anything similar in your country?

Tuesday, 29 December 2009

Rue Guillaume PuySeason's greetings in Mr. and Mrs Fattore's bakery and pastry shop window. Will I be the only one to find the ad slightly surreal?"Pensez à vos commandes" means remember to place your orders (for Christmas and New Year's eve).

Monday, 28 December 2009

Place de l'horlogeChristmas is over but the Christmas market on place de l'horloge remains open until the first few days of January. I've been away for a few days, celebrating Christmas with my family ; coming home tonight.

Friday, 25 December 2009

If you are celebrating Christmas, may this special time of the year be filled with joy and kindness. If for whatever reason this cannot be a time for you to rejoice, my very special thoughts are with you. May the spirit of peace be with you.

Wednesday, 23 December 2009

L'isle sur la SorgueLooking for novel Christmas ideas? How about an upside down tree for a change ? Note the cute little baby shoes glued to the ceiling, with the laces hanging down. Seen at Retour de Voyage, a home decoration shop in L'isle sur la Sorgue. I love the idea. As a child I used to spend long moments looking up and picturing myself walking on the ceiling. Perhaps this is why I so enjoyed living downunder?

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

L'Isle sur la SorgueWhen I said the weather had been bitter cold, here's to prove it: see this frozen mill in l'Isle sur la Sorgue!

Quand je vous disais qu'il faisait un froid mordant, j'en ai la preuve : voyez ce moulin de l'Isle sur la Sorgue ! I spoke to the neighbour who lives across from it, he said he'd never seen it like this. I guess it takes a certain combination of wheel speed and freezing temperatures to achieve this : the wheel must keep turning slowly enough for the dripping water to have time to freeze into icicles. Amazing that they didn't melt again when they dipped into the river!

J'ai parlé à un voisin qui habite en face, il n'avait jamais vu ça. Je suppose qu'il faut une combinaison très particulière de froid intense et de vitesse de la roue pour que les gouttes d'eau qui tombent des pales aient le temps de se figer en glaçons sans fondre quand ils replongent dans la rivière.If you look closely you'll see that there are stalactites as well as stalagmites. The amazing curves in the icicles show that they froze as the wheel turned. But when I took these photos on Sunday the wheel had frozen to a halt.

Si vous regardez bien, vous verrez qu'il y a aussi bien des stalactites que des stalagmites. La forme courbe des glaçons donne une idée de leur formation progressive au cours de la rotation de la roue. Mais quand j'ai pris ces photos dimanche, la roue était complètement bloquée par la glace.Here's the mill in its environment. Nothing spectacular to be seen from here on the sunny southern side ; the ice is all inside the wheel. As far as I know the river itself never freezes, it's fast running water. I took these pictures on Sunday but with the rain and much milder temperatures we're having today, the whole thing has probably melted down by now. I'm glad I've got some images of this rare and spectacular phenomenon. After 10 minutes of photo shooting, my fingers were painfully frozen.

Monday, 21 December 2009

Near LacosteI think I mentioned a couple of ago that we had a few snow flakes fluttering around in Avignon, but nothing on the ground. In the country however I heard that the snowfall was a couple of inches thick. I spent part of my Sunday roaming the area for ubiquitous traces of it. There wasn't much left but it was bitter cold. Mount Ventoux in the distance gained a snow cap. Is there any snow where you are?

Saturday, 19 December 2009

How about something completely different for today? Because of the cold, I played with my camera indoors rather than outdoors. Here's the result. Tomorrow I'll tell you I did it (see in the comments section).

Friday, 18 December 2009

The one easy-to-reach persimmon (we call them kaki in French) that I focused on yesterday, where do you think it ended up? On my plate of course! I wasn't going to walk away without knowing what the fruit tastes like ! You can see here that there's a stone in the middle, about the size of an almond. The flesh is smooth and juicy and in yesterday's comments Claude said it tasted like peach-apricot. My own experience was that of an initial shock of a very tart almost teeth gritting sensation followed by a nice sweet taste - too unpleasant overall to make me go for a second bite. But I was told that it's the frost-bite that removes the tartness so perhaps the fruit I ate wasn't in the right condition? I think I'll try it again but perhaps with a fruit bought from a shop...

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

LaurisNot much time to write today so I'm taking you back to Lauris where I'll let you wander at your own pace from the church to the mairie (town hall) with a look at a couple of houses along the way. Take your time, enjoy!Pas le temps d'écrire beaucoup aujourd'hui alors je vous remmène à Lauris et je vous laisse vous ballader à votre rythme entre l'église et la mairie en jetant un coup d'oeil à qulques maisons de village en chemin. As we look up to the church facade let us spare a thought for the cute baby Jesus who despite being more pricked with needles than a voodoo doll appears be attracting pigeons like Saint Francis preaching to the birds.

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Calvaire, cathédrale Notre Dame des DomsIf time and again my steps take me back to the rocher des Doms public gardens it is for one simple reason: in winter this rocky outcrop is the last place in Avignon to soak up some sunshine while the narrow streets below have fallen prey to deep shadows. I am always drawn to light. Walking down from the gardens at dusk, one can only be seized by the beauty of Notre Dame des Doms's calvary and the townhall's clock tower beyond. But the biting cold sends me home to a cup of tea.

Saturday, 12 December 2009

SaumaneLast weekend there was an Advent fete in the tiny village of Saumane, some thirty kilometres east of Avignon. For the little ones there was a free merry-go-round of the simplest kind ; the music was provided by a man playing the accordion and the seats were all wooden animals. Covered by a yellow parasol, it was actioned by a simple bicycle mechanism: if you look closely you'll see a dad pedaling behind the merry go round. For the older crowd, great jazz music was provided by a band of snow men. Around the castle garden were stalls selling arts and crafts as well as crepes and local specialties. I really enjoyed the unpretentious village fun atmosphere.

Friday, 11 December 2009

Place PieCheck out what was on the menu at the Red Sky last week : kangaroo stew with spaghetti! Wow, my Australian years jumped straight at me like Skippy from the bush. And then coming home a couple of nights ago I found that La Coupe d'Or, the liquor shop on place de la synagogue (sorry, place Jerusalem) was just opening a "world wide wine" corner, which of course featured Australian wines. I photographed just two: Bird in Hand Two in the Bush Merlot Cabernet, Adelaide Hills 2004 (14 euros) and Penfold's Koonunga Hills Chardonnay South Australia 2007. The latter reminded me of all the lovely glasses of chilled Chardonnay I had sipped with my Australian girlfriends in Sydney (in Australia white wine is a more of a girl's drink; men usually have beer) and fond memories made me very mellow...

Things went out of hand when yesterday someone on a friend's blog mentioned Waltzing Matilda, the Australian bush ballad which even more than their national anthem Advance Australia Fair brings Aussies together in spirit. When I listened to it here (with a few useful words of explanation about the song) and then here by Slim Dusty the king of Aussie country music, and then in this very moving rendition by André Rieu sung along by an Australian crowd, I got caught in a very emotional moment. Australia, dear to my heart...

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Place de l'horlogeSame place as yesterday, but in a different light at lunch time. Many of you know of my compulsive attraction to long shadows.Dreaming of warmer days ? Click here to see the same spot in spring!

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

Place de l'horlogeAs I left our bloggers meeting on Monday night, I seized the opportunity to take my first photos of Avignon's Christmas street decorations. They're completely different from last year's (see them here). I imagine these blueish lights are low consumption LED bulbs?

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Cid Café, place de l'horlogeLast night I had a very nice time at the Cid Café meeting three fellow Avignon bloggers : Brigetoun of Paumée, Mathilde of Bien plus que des mots and Michel of Avignon. All three blog in French only (ooops, not true : Michel's post titles also come in English and Provençal). Between us all we drank a couple of beers, one perrier, one evian, one tea, one coffee, one hot chocolate, one mulled wine and one white martini. I'm afraid it was an unhealthy mix: for a while my vision became blurred...PS - the Cid cafe's covered terrace proved unpleasantly noisy : we promised we'd meet again but in a more quiet location. We also hope that other bloggers who were unable to attend last night will join us next time.

Sunday, 6 December 2009

LaurisI'm grateful for my daughter's tennis competitions: as I drive her to various tennis clubs on Saturday afternoons, I get to do a bit of touring in the region. I must say I'm neither a good supporter or a good coach : I don't stay and watch her play. I just drop her off and go walkabout in the area. That's how I came to visit Lauris: this lovely village perched on the southern slope of the Luberon range is dominated by a large chateau overlooking the wide plains of the Durance river. To the side of the castle is a terrace garden with stupendous views. The village of Lauris is reknown for its arts and crafts; in summer there are dozens of workshops and galleries you can visit as you wander through its maze of narrow streets. But on this late autumn day the place was amazingly quiet and most shops were closed. Only a performance by students of the local music school kept the castle alive. The light was beautiful, the temperature quite balmy and I had the place to myself: oh the joys of off season touring!Je suis très reconnaissante à ma fille de jouer dans des tournois de tennis : la conduire à droite et à gauche le samedi après-midi me donne l'occasion de visiter la région. Je ne fais pas partie des parents qui restent au bord du terrain pour soutenir et conseiller leur petit prodige. Je la pose au tennis et pars me ballader. C'est ainsi qu'il y a deux semaines je suis allée découvrir Lauris, un village perché sur la face sud du massif du Luberon. Son chateau qui surplombe la vaste plaine de la Durance est flanqué à gauche d'un étonnant jardin à la française qui jouit d'une vue à couper le souffle. Lauris est célèbre pour ses ateliers d'artistes et d'artisans : l'été, le village fourmille de galeries d'art et d'ateliers ouverts au publics. Mais en ce samedi ensoleillé de fin d'automne, presque tout était fermé; les jardins et les ruelles étaient presque déserts. Seuls une exposition de santons et un concert de l'école de musique animaient le chateau. Le charme du tourisme hors saison.

The village and castle seen from the plain below. I wouldn't describe the chateau as much more than a massive and imposing mansion. The terrace garden is located above the long wall reinforced by arches that you see below.

After six years in Australia and five years of city life in Avignon I moved to the countryside near the small village of Beaumes-de-Venise. Once dedicated to street photography my blog has since taken a more rural note but the beautiful region of Provence is an constant source of inspiration.